Tag Archives: procrastination

For years and years I thought I was a night owl. I loved to stay up and out late, either having fun or working on projects. More recently I discovered that I am not a night owl, but in fact a morning person. Even though I was up late, I wasn’t being productive on my projects. I was working on them well into the evening due to my procrastination. I began to get up early to complete my projects and felt significantly more ambitions, focused and productive.

Last week I saw this article and tweeted it to share with my fellow #tfwf14 classmates:

My first reponse: Does Hazma Kahn know me? Is he watching me? This is my life!

Kahn’s article “Don’t Waste Your Two Golden Hours of Productivity” him home for me. I fall into the category that Kahn gives data on, that “80 percent of 18- to 44-year-olds who check their smartphones” as soon as they get up. My smartphone has replaced my alarm clock, so it is the first thing I touch in the morning.

First I check Facebook, followed by Instagram, then Twitter and finally email. All before my feet have hit the floor and I have to agree with Kahn that we need to avoid this habit. He states that “the problem with jumping right into our inboxes and notifications is that it steers your morning off-course”. I get very distracted and behind in my morning routine when I pick up my phone. So I decided to give it a try, to leave my phone on the night stand when I got out of bed.

I spent the 90 minutes of my morning feeling as though I was missing something, but I was more focused on the tasks that needed to be completed and able to successfully complete them all. I found my morning flowing along smoothly without having to rush because I was behind on the time. I could get used to this!

Now, I wish I could say that I was able to keep this routine and I’ve been tremendously successful in being on time and maintaining my easy-flowing mornings. If I did, I’d be lying. What I have done, is limited my time on my phone in the morning. I check social media and then put the phone down. Emails are put off until I arrive at work. I couldn’t quit cold turkey, I’m not a quitter.